Entrepreneurial Self-Audit

Overview

Across three 45-minute class periods, students investigate the personal qualities and competencies associated with entrepreneurship. They complete and compare career and entrepreneurial inventories, analyze risk and personal control, and create a visual competency portfolio that communicates who they are, what they value, and how they will address skill gaps.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Explain the difference between hard skills and soft skills in entrepreneurial settings.
• Interpret self-assessment and career-inventory results through a business lens.
• Analyze how risk tolerance, grit, adaptability, locus of control, and self-efficacy affect entrepreneurial decisions.
• Identify personal strengths, values, and skill gaps.
• Develop and present a realistic plan for managing skill gaps.

Success criteria

• I can use evidence from multiple inventories to describe my entrepreneurial strengths.
• I can distinguish between a personal strength, a growth area, and a skill gap.
• I can connect my values and competencies to possible roles on a business team.
• I can propose specific strategies, such as practice, mentoring, finding a co-founder, or hiring for a missing skill.
• I can present a clear statement of who I am and what I stand for.

Curriculum links

• Nebraska Business, Marketing, and Management: Self-Assessment and Entrepreneurial Traits—students assess personal characteristics, skills, and competencies related to entrepreneurship.
• Speaking and Listening: collaborative, civil discussion, shared decision-making, roles, and deadlines.
• Reading Literature: comprehension and analysis of complex narrative or profile texts about people and their choices.
• Conditional probability and multiplication: interpreting risk and the likelihood of combined events in a business decision.

Lesson structure (three 45-minute class periods)

Students progress from identifying entrepreneurial traits, to comparing evidence and building a personal SWOT, to creating and presenting a competency portfolio. Each day includes a formative check for understanding and a brief reflection.

Day 1: Discovering Entrepreneurial Traits

1. 0–6 min · Hook and quickwrite. Students respond to “Would you start a business if success were uncertain?” and identify one risk they would take. Share with a partner.

2. 6–16 min · Define the traits. Introduce hard skills, soft skills, risk tolerance, grit, adaptability, locus of control, and self-efficacy. Students sort traits into “can be developed,” “influenced by experience,” or “needs evidence.” Formative check: students justify one choice and the teacher addresses misconceptions.

3. 16–32 min · Entrepreneurial mindset inventory. Students complete a teacher-selected inventory and record key results on the personal competency audit worksheet. Emphasize that results are a starting point for reflection, not a fixed label.

4. 32–41 min · Business-lens interpretation. Students answer how one trait might help them as a founder, employee, or team member, then compare one supporting and one challenging trait with a partner. Formative check: partners paraphrase each other’s interpretation.

5. 41–45 min · Risk check and reflection. Students consider a brief uncertain-business scenario, identify one additional piece of information they would want, and complete: “One result that surprised me was…” or “One question I still have is…”

Day 2: Comparing Strengths and Building a SWOT

1. 0–5 min · Retrieval and norms. Students recall the seven entrepreneurial traits and review norms for respectful feedback, confidentiality, equal participation, and deadlines. Formative check: students write one trait definition from memory and correct it with a partner.

2. 5–17 min · Compare career inventories. Students complete a teacher-selected career or strengths inventory and compare it with Day 1 results, recording two similarities, two differences, and possible reasons.

3. 17–25 min · Profile analysis. Students read a short entrepreneur or startup-team profile and identify which strengths led to particular roles. Discuss why someone may need support to perform a desired role. Formative check: students cite one piece of evidence from the profile.

4. 25–39 min · Personal SWOT analysis. After a brief model, students create a personal SWOT focused on themselves as a potential entrepreneur or business-team member. They support at least two claims with inventory results, experiences, or feedback.

5. 39–43 min · Peer feedback. Students share one strength and one growth area. Peers ask a clarifying question and suggest one possible role, partner, or support strategy.

6. 43–45 min · Exit reflection. Students write: “A role I may be suited for is ___ because ___; a role I may need support to perform is ___ because ___.”

Day 3: Competency Portfolio and Personal Brand

1. 0–5 min · Reconnect to purpose. Students respond to: “Who are you, what do you stand for, and what value could you bring to a venture?” Review the portfolio success criteria.

2. 5–11 min · Model a competency audit. Demonstrate a sample portfolio item showing a strength, evidence, growth area, risk, and mitigation strategy. Formative check: students identify the evidence and mitigation strategy in the model.

3. 11–32 min · Create the portfolio artifact. Students complete the final sections of the personal competency audit worksheet and create a one-page visual portfolio item including a headline; three strengths with evidence; two growth areas; values; a SWOT summary; one possible business role; and specific strategies for skill gaps.

4. 32–38 min · Identity matching activity. Students write three representative words on the portfolio, share them anonymously or aloud, and explain the evidence behind one word. Students may revise a word that does not represent them accurately.

5. 38–43 min · Presentations and peer feedback. Students deliver a 60-second “Who I am and what I stand for” presentation. Listeners record one observed strength and one question. Formative check: students use the success criteria to self-check before submitting.

6. 43–45 min · Final commitment. Students submit the portfolio and complete: “The competency I will develop next is ___, and my first action by ___ will be ___.”

Resources

• the entrepreneurial traits, risk scenario, discussion prompts, and presentation deck
• the personal competency audit worksheet
• Teacher-selected entrepreneurial mindset inventory
• Teacher-selected career or strengths inventory
• Short entrepreneur or startup-team profile
• Student devices or printed inventory copies
• Paper, colored pens, or design materials
• Timer and presentation rubric

Assessment

• Formatively assess students’ trait explanations, inventory comparisons, risk reasoning, and respectful collaboration during group work.
• Review SWOT analyses for accurate internal/external categorization and evidence-based claims.
• Assess the final portfolio and 60-second presentation for self-awareness, understanding of entrepreneurial competencies, realistic mitigation strategies, and clear communication.

Differentiation

• Provide definitions, examples, sentence starters, and a partially completed SWOT model for students who need support. Allow students to complete inventories with teacher assistance or in a quiet setting.
• Offer audio directions, chunked steps, enlarged print, speech-to-text, and an alternative recorded presentation for students with documented accommodations.
• Support English learners with visual examples and frames such as “My evidence is…” and “A strategy that could help me is…”
• Extend advanced students by asking them to estimate the business value of filling a skill gap, compare two mitigation options, and defend whether a co-founder, employee, or training program is the strongest solution.